"“I want to bring nature into investment decision-making and for investors to focus on the importance of biodiversity, in order for more blue finance initiatives to be taken, investors need the right data points.”"

"The world is facing some of these changes that simply can't be affected overnight, and both investors and those running businesses do understand that certain things will take time. Of course, there will always be some people who will be impatient but, at the end of the day, investors have a choice: you either buy into the corporate strategy and mission and say, I will be with you every step of the way on this journey, I believe in what you're doing, or ultimately they'll divest, and I think therein lies the rub."

"I firmly believe that the purpose of an organisation matters, it matters to those who work in it tirelessly every day, it should absolutely matter to your shareholders and stakeholders, but it really should matter to your investors as well."

"The whole issue of humanitarian and resilience investing, which is not really an investable space at the moment; it has typically been the domain of the aid agencies who poster a humanitarian issue, would step in and be there to support those on the ground who needed them. But increasingly, and the global pandemic has shown us this, there simply isn't enough money going around to enable just the aid agencies to pick up the cost. So I think the question is how do we, as a finance industry, help build resilience in communities that need it most?"

"How have you grown as a person? What have you contributed and who have you taught? Because there's something about what each of us have learnt and there's something about what each of us convey to others as a learning experience and that sense of passing down the generational baton."

"The purpose of an organisation matters, it matters to those who work in it tirelessly every day, it should absolutely matter to your shareholders and stakeholders, but it really should matter to your investors as well."

"It's just a perennial trap that CEOs fall into, which is that they ram their diary full of things that, if you really look hard, fall neither into the urgent, nor the important box. So, I love the little urgent and important matrix, it's kept me on the straight and narrow for a long time. If it's not urgent, or is unimportant, it just going to have to wait."

"Build your own brand equity by listing all the great things you’ve achieved in your life – the times you’ve been resilient, dynamic and entrepreneurial. Then, when you go into an important meeting or have a wobbly moment, you can read that list and boost your confidence. Women tend to forget how powerful they are and how good they are at what they do."

"You don’t have to be a table-basher to succeed and you don’t have to emulate men to succeed. Stereotypes like the entrepreneurs on Dragon’s Den and The Apprentice make compelling viewing but you don’t have to behave in that way to get results. I used to do the whole power-dressing thing until someone said I reminded them of a politician. At that point I stopped and went back to being just me!"

"If you’re in business you are going to take risks and make mistakes. The key is knowing when to pull the plug and not let it get out of hand."

"My biggest business challenge came when I received a bullet in the post just before opening an Ann Summers store in Dublin. It would have been easier to pull the plug but I hate the idea of being bullied and ploughed on."

"“Women should own their success. If we are to be good role models to the next generations, we have to empower ourselves.”"

"I think it was a sign of the times that when I was a teenager, my father didn’t really talk about his business and what he was doing, and I don’t think he ever imagined me going into business because I was a girl."

"it was boys who followed in their father’s footsteps. But I was always incredibly hard-working, and I was keen to have financial independence – and I was very ambitious and creative."

"I certainly didn't expect to go into the line of business that I did go into; and I think that is the case with many entrepreneurs. We tend to stumble across our opportunities."

"Women are making a lot of decisions themselves, both in business and in life."

"If you can find some positivity in the obstacles life throws at you, you can survive them, and I think this is what resilience is; and you need it in life and in business."

"The younger generation have different challenges than we had. Social media is a big challenge for young people and so is having to keep up with what your peers are doing and how instant everything is. There are positives to social media though, but I think it can impact young people's wellbeing and their outlook on life."

"Successful businesses today are those that have a purpose."

"Whatever business you go into, make sure it has a purpose that is authentic; and you will need to have a clear point of difference that sets you apart from your competition."

"Being able to adjust to your environment and adapt is something that I feel is important too. For female entrepreneurs, it is also about self-belief. If you ever doubt yourself, keep a list of all your achievements and read them back to yourself before you go into an environment that might give you a wobble."

"I started specialising in cold cases in the firm that I co-founded, Forensic Alliance, back in the late nineties."

"It was a sort of happy accident when I look back on it now."

"Prior to setting up this company I had been doing quite a lot of defence work which included supporting lawyers representing people accused of crimes when there is forensic evidence against them."

"I began to notice that standards for police were slipping slightly and I couldn’t help but think there might be a better way of doing things."

"I set up Forensic Alliance specifically for the police and one or two forces, particularly local ones, took us up on this and it gave us an opportunity to show just how good, imaginative and different we could be."

"Every time I meet him, I ask him if he has any bricks with him."

"SVG awaits 'wall of cash' to kick start commitment."

"SVG’s market value is now nearly £1bn."

"Many retail business are just watching with horror almost at the mess that has been created."

"I think many retail business are just watching with horror almost at the mess that has been created and how it’s so late, and from a business point of view you would never, never leave everything to the last minute."

"That ability to deliver pretty low inflation or even deflation in non-food over the last five years or so has been dependent on frictionless movement of goods across borders, and to the extent that goods are imported from the EU, or from countries that the EU has a trade deal with, as there are no tariffs on those goods coming in."

"If we’re on WTO tariffs, and if we have any friction at the borders, that will put costs up for retailers and hence prices up for consumers."

"I was gobsmacked by it at the time because back then you were routinely talking hundreds of thousands of pounds for some of these larger “gold standard” government projects."

"I’d never really been all that aware of the scale of it all when seeing statistics quoted in the newspaper until I started working in the industry."

"Being innovative is crucial in our line of work, and yes it brings a lot of value to try something."

"I believe you don't have to do something new for the sake of doing something new, just consider things that have worked well so far."

"I honestly don't think a day goes by, certainly a week, where I don’t learn something from each other."

"We're always learning from each other, which I think that is really valuable."

"They were opening shops like billy-o as loads of people were buying things on credit. At that time you did not have to be a great retailer to enjoy a measure of success. But now it is the customer in charge and digitalisation is largely driving it."

"The digital revolution has had a major impact on the way consumers shop. It’s a game-changer."

"Technology is giving rise to a pace of change that we have not ever seen before. For the customer it’s great."

"Customers don’t care what shopping channel they use."

"It is a great opportunity for retailers as it provides small retail businesses with a shop window to the world, driving exports of British products rather than just being a physical place in the community."

"It wasn’t my career plan."

"I was a clinician, but at East London NHS Foundation Trust I was encouraged to take on management and leadership responsibilities so I kind of fell into it really."

"From a very young age, I assumed that I would have to work harder to do well."

"There were some jobs I did not get but I don’t know if that was because I’m a woman or because of my ethnicity."